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Greenlee: Going to pot?

By Bob Greenlee

Posted:
10/21/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT

If you've come to the conclusion that Colorado voters created an unintended fraud when they approved the "medical" marijuana scam, just wait until voters approve Amendment 64. This latest con job attempts to legalize possession, use, and growing of pot for adults, and ultimately wants to tax it like alcohol. As if consuming alcohol is some kind of benign activity never subject to abuse, law enforcement resources, highway mayhem, or assorted medical conditions. But perhaps that's not the worst part of this citizen-initiated hoax.

Approving Amendment 64 makes it a permanent fixture in Colorado's Constitution. Like several other recent constitutional amendments approved by voters it makes it nearly impossible for legislative remedies to balance conflicting fiscal and administrative needs. Stuffing this thing in our state Constitution conflicts with existing federal laws and is an open invitation for expensive and protracted litigation along with additional fiscal burdens for a state not entirely flush with extra cash.

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Even though the Amendment might eventually allow taxing the sale of pot the ballot measure only directs Colorado's Department of Revenue to establish rules and regulations for the production and sale of it. A recent editorial in a Steamboat Springs newspaper points out: "This is uncharted territory. In general, the state's businesses are regulated by Colorado's Revised Statutes, which can be amended as necessary by vote of the Colorado Legislature. Trying to license and regulate the sale of marijuana in the state's Constitution, which can be amended only by public vote, is not only impractical, it's silly." In addition, all that new tax revenue the supporters of Amendment 64 claim will benefit Colorado school children will first need to be approved by voters because of another provision stuck in the Constitution several years ago. Remember when voters approved the now hated Tabor amendment? With it neither the Department of Revenue nor the legislature can simply approve a tax without first getting voter approval. Promises being made by the potheads are a long way off.

Frankly, there are many things about trying to promote more intelligent regulation of our nation's foundering drug laws that are appealing. Simply making the possession and personal use of marijuana subject to criminal prosecution has proven to be both intolerable if not entirely harmful. Long considered a "gateway" drug, marijuana is probably no more harmful than alcohol when used by adults in private and in moderation. Arguments that condemning the use of pot and alcohol only invites youthful experimentation are probably correct but the cost of regulating consumption of both may be excessive as well as unproductive. Unfortunately many of those intending to vote in favor of Amendment 64 will be responding to simplistic and unrealistic remedies that demand a more thoughtful analysis before being approved.

One of the most interesting aspects of the current debate is the schism that has opened up between existing purveyors of pot and those seeking to expand its production, distribution, and sale. A large number of licensed "care givers" under Colorado's current "medical" marijuana laws are dead set against supporting Amendment 64. Not only is their feed bag being threatened but there's fear that if voters approve Amendment 64 it will open the doors to large scale and well-funded "corporate" interests engaging in huge "grow" operations and more sophisticated retail establishments being built along well traveled corridors and ever-present strip malls. Equating the marketing of marijuana products and branding them like beer and wine opens up all kinds of potentially troubling regulatory questions, conflicts, and unidentified public costs.

If anyone believes the feds are just going to sit back and allow the "legalization" of marijuana in Colorado without intervention they are simply not dealing with reality. Ballots will be in our mailboxes shortly. Before blindly filling in the "yes" box to approve Amendment 64, please give it a bit more thoughtful consideration.

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